Gifted
by THIboxNK
Summary: Itachi finally helps his brother, and gives him a lasting reminder of what they had. Mostly implied ItaSasu. Oneshot.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That is given away by the fact I wrote a disclaimer._

**Gifted**

I'm supposed to be training right now, but I can't tear my eyes away from the sight before me. Standing in center of the training ground is my nii-san, holding a katana in his right hand and a few shuriken in the other. Leisurely, he tosses the shuriken and they all got straight into the center of a target fifty feet from him.

Aniki reminds me almost of a wild cat: laid back and almost lazy-looking before striking with deadly accuracy and grace.

I don't know why, but recently I've been watching my nii-san train almost every day. I know that if I'm caught, Otou-san might punish me, and Okaa-san might not let me eat dinner for being lazy and slacking off in my own training, but I can't help it; watching Aniki train is breathtakingly beautiful, and I've always really like beautiful things.

He noticed me. I know he did because suddenly he just stopped in the middle of a complex movement and looked over to the tree I've been hiding here. This is the first time he's ever noticed me before: he had always been so wrapped up in training that he hadn't bothered trying to see if anyone was nearby.

Holding my head low in shame, I climb down the tree and drag myself over to stand in front of Aniki. "Gomen, nii-san…" I murmur, hesitantly looking up at him; scared to see the annoyance I know I must cause him at times like this. I don't try to be troublesome for him, but he's always been so far ahead of me, I always feel I've been dragging him down, somehow.

"Sorry for what, Otouto?" he asks me, seeming almost confused.

"I've been a bother to you," I explain quietly. I expect that he'll most likely reprimand me, or tell Otou-san that I've disturbed him.

I'm surprised when he kneels down to look me in the eyes, a small smile on his normally stoic face. "Iie, Sasu-chan. You're not a bother," he says softly, a kind note in his voice. It makes me feel good when he talks like this with me, the way he never does with anyone else.

"Why don't I help you with your shuriken training?" he asks me, the smile still lingering on his face. My own face lights up in a hug grin. "Really?" I ask him, unable to keep the excitement from my voice. He nods, and I wrap my arms around his neck in a brief hug.

I take a small step away from him before saying, "Arigatou!" I fish a single shuriken from my holster, and I aim it at one of the nearby targets. It flies into one of the outer rings, and I sigh in disappointment as I go to retrieve the weapon.

When I come back over to Itachi, he looks thoughtful, distant. I don't want to disturb him, but my curiosity and concern get the better of me. "Aniki? Daijoubu ka?"

He snaps back to attention suddenly, and looks at me thoughtfully. After a moment, he stands up and I think he's going to leave, before he turns to the target and throws a shuriken so fast I never even saw him draw it. It hit dead center. He looks at me and says, "Concentrate solely on the area you intend to hit, and picture the shuriken hitting that spot. Then, simply apply what you've been taught about shuriken techniques, and it should hit the target."

I nod, and lift the shuriken I had thrown earlier, and was about to put Aniki's advice to work when he suddenly says, "Iie."

I look at him questioningly, asking if I had done something wrong. He dips his hand into his shuriken holster and fishes out a single one of the throwing stars. He hands it to me and says, "Use this, Otouto. It's always been good luck for me."

I look at the weapon curiously, wondering what was so special about it. It looks the same as any other one I've seen, so I wonder. It takes me another moment to notice the small kanji carved into one of the tips. I'm not yet able to read kanji, as they don't teach that at the academy for another year, but I figure it holds some importance to Aniki. I won't fail him with this shuriken.

I slowly lift it, and concentrate on the red center of the target, letting my world fade to that one small area. I picture myself throwing the shuriken into the middle, and then promptly carry out the action. I'm almost surprised when the shuriken actually lands in the exact place I imagined it, but I trust my Aniki, so I'm happy more than anything.

I turn to my nii-san and hug him around his waist, whispering a cheerful thank you. I'm even happier when I fell my brother actually returns the hug, instead of pushing me away. I always wonder why he ever bothers to even tolerate me when he's so talented, and I'm only average. That's one of the reasons I love my Aniki most.

"I love you, Aniki," I tell him, voicing my thoughts, "more than anything else."

His grip on me tightens. "And I love you, Otouto. Remember that… no matter what."

………………………

I haven't been here in four years. The place I once regarded as my home has become a graveyard, and I've learned to fear the spirits lingering there.

Nothing has changed; not one single thing. I don't know why that surprises me, seeing as no one has entered this section of the Uchiha complex since the massacre, save for the ANBU who were employed to clean up the mess left by Itachi.

Looking around, I can almost fool myself into believing that these last four years have been nothing but a waking nightmare, and that any second now my Aniki will come into my room and tell me that if I don't get up I'll be late to the Academy, and that it was all just a bad dream.

I'm still not sure why I came here. Maybe so I can put the past behind me finally, or maybe in a futile attempt to still time and stay in that past forever. All I know is that now I'm standing in the room I inhabited for the first eight years of my life, looking through the things that used to keep me busy during the day.

There were scattered scrolls and books strewn throughout the room, a few kunai and shuriken sitting on the small desk sitting in the corner, opposite of the bed and the window right next to it.

I wander over to my bed and sit down on the soft mattress, ignoring the dust shooting up from disturbing the old thing. My hand sweeps over the covers, coming up to rest on my pillows. I still remember the nights when I would get scared, and head over to my nii-san's room to seek comfort.

My hand sweeps over the pillow again, before stopping when it hits something hard. My eyebrows furrow as I lift the covers, only to find a single shuriken resting on my pillow. I pick it up, and for a moment wonder where it came from. It suddenly hits me: my Aniki's lucky shuriken… the one he gave me the week before he slaughtered the clan.

"_And I love you, Otouto. Remember that… no matter what."_

My hand tightens around the shuriken, drawing blood. It drips down onto the cover of the bed, and dribbles onto the shuriken. My heart clenches painfully, and I close my eyes tightly, trying to hold back the tears.

Once I felt I could control my emotions well enough, I opened my eyes. I watched in almost morbid fascination as the blood leaked from my hand, staining both the bedcover and shuriken with my blood.

I stared at the shuriken, thinking that if he had just waited another week to part with this shuriken, it could have very well been drenched with the blood of another Uchiha. I glared at it, as if to blame the weapon for Itachi's corruptness.

My eyes were then drawn to the small kanji character in the corner. I hadn't been able to read it at the time, but I now would be able to understand what the symbol meant.

It was there I saw, outlined in my own blood, the word: Love.

A tear slipped from my eye as I thought of how love could cause so much more pain than joy.

………………………

End.

………………………

A/N: A short little one-shot. I hope you liked it. Read and review!


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